As the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship season edges closer, we want to know which truck brand you want to see re-join the roadshow

Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Supercars B-Double in 2019

The Repco Supercars Championship paddock has lost some diversity of truck brands in recent years. The category has farewelled five brands since 2018, and only welcomed one. That meant last year, there were just five different brands of truck in the paddock.

We can’t yet confirm how many brands will be at the pointy of a Supercars B-Double in 2022. However, with a few brands launching new models, and a local truck market that’s as competitive as ever, we’re expecting some manufacturers and truck dealers to be investigating the possibility of showing off their product through Supercars.

Below are the brands we’ve seen in Supercars in the not-too-distant past, that still sell trucks Down Under.

Volvo

This is the biggest heavy-duty truck brand in the country not to be represented in the Repco Supercars Championship paddock this decade. Volvo was second only to Kenworth in units sold in the 2021 heavy-duty sales charts. But we haven’t seen the Volvo badge behind the pits in Supercars since Garry Rogers Motorsport left the championship in 2019, with their 700-horsepower FH model now a regular in the TCR Australia pit paddock.

Scania

Scania was the other Scandinavian brand that left the sport in 2019, following a long partnership with Walkinshaw Andretti United. The departing R620 V8 prime mover wasn’t short of power, but the horsepower wars have since progressed, and the brand’s local arm announced its new 770 horsepower R-series model last year. We know there’s at least one in the country, too, which some of the big trucking media outlets have already put through its paces.

DAF

DAF shot up the local heavy-duty truck sales charts last year, becoming a big player behind the leading European manufacturers. But it’s been a while since we saw a DAF truck power a full season in Supercars. The last time was 2013, when Tony D’Alberto Racing used a DAF CF to haul its Holden Commodore around the country. The PACCAR brand offers a couple of trucks that could do the job, including a locally built CF or larger XF prime mover.

Paul Cruickshank Racing’s DAF XF 95 at Bathurst in 2008
Photo: Mike Cornwall

Western Star

Western Star prime movers were a feature of the Supercars paddock from the late noughties to the end of the twenty-tens. However, the brand departed the sport entirely in mid-2019 when TEKNO Autosport switched to an MAN TGX. The big, bonneted ‘Stars were fan-favourites, and the brand has started to rebuild its market after a couple of years in the doldrums. Could Supercars truck fans go Stargazing again?

IVECO

Last seen in the Supercars paddock in 2020, IVECO is rebuilding its local lineup as it transitions from local manufacturer to full importer. The new S-WAY prime mover is on the horizon, though it hasn’t been launched yet in Australia. It’ll be the flagship of the IVECO range in a matter of time, and we might well see one join the paddock sometime over the next five years. In the meantime, if IVECO made a comeback, it’d be a Stralis X-Way prime mover shouldering Supercars responsibilities.

Isuzu

Isuzu is the third highest-selling heavy truck brand in Australia, behind only Volvo and Kenworth. However, we haven’t seen a regular Isuzu truck in the Supercars paddock since 2009, when a Giga EXY model hauled Tony D’Alberto’s Bottle-O Holden Commodore and its equipment around the country. Isuzu trucks also famously carted the Holden Dealer Team Commodores to the track in the late seventies and into the eighties. There are plenty of Isuzu fans and drivers out there, too, though the Japanese brand’s current line-up is less orientated toward long journeys in B-Double configuration.

UD

Holden Racing Team struck a deal with UD Trucks back in 2011. The Clayton squad took delivery of two UD GW470 prime movers on a two-year partnership. The best-selling Japanese-built prime movers pulled the Toll Holden Racing Team and Walkinshaw Racing B-Double race transporters to the biggest races in the country in 2011 and 2012. If UD did make a comeback, it would be the B-Double-capable Quon model doing the hard work, which has powered the brand into 10th place in the Australian truck sales charts.

One of Holden Racing Team’s UD trucks in 2011
Photo: Mike Cornwall

To be confirmed… Mack and Freightliner

We’re not officially including these two big American names, given both brands were represented in the paddock last year. However, there’s some uncertainty about their presence in the Supercars roadshow this year.

Grove Group assumes full ownership of the old Kelly Racing outfit this year, and the Braeside team’s long partnership with Mack Trucks has ended in favour of a fresh deal with Whitehorse Truck Centre. That means there’s no confirmed B-Double being pulled by a Mack truck this season, though there are still openings for the Volvo-owned brand to stick around in 2022.

In terms of Freightliner, Brad Jones Racing’s extended association with the brand has also come to an end this year, with its famous Coronado prime mover, ‘Stax’, returned to Freightliner last week. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of Freightliner’s long stint in the sport. Grove Racing’s new partner, Whitehorse Truck Centre, sells the Freightliner brand’s new flagship model, the Cascadia. We also spotted a Cascadia in the background of the team’s Luna Park launch video on Australia Day. That could see the first Freightliner Cascadia join the Supercars paddock this season, but it’s not confirmed.

Have your say

And now for the fun part! We want to find out which truck brand you most want to see back in the Repco Supercars Championship paddock. You can vote in the poll on our Facebook group here. And after you cast your vote, make sure you join the group, too. We have a passionate following of transporter fans who regularly share great photos and insights from all disciplines of motorsport.

There’s plenty more Australian and global truck news to come over the next few weeks. Make sure you’re following our Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as our website, to see it all in the countdown to the Supercars, F1, NASCAR and MotoGP season openers.

WHICH TRUCK MANUFACTURER DO YOU MOST WANT TO RETURN TO THE SUPERCARS PADDOCK?